A good friend of mine commented on one of the blog post. It’s a comment that cuts deep. Knowing the person, i think it was quite a step to be this open on a public blog. So first of all, congrats for coming-out !

Here is the original comment:

I have spent some time reading through this and other blogs of yours. And they make me react strongly in a very controversial way: I love them and I hate them; I agree and fully reject their contents.
And, beyond the very valid and daring points you make, I’d like to reflect about the channel: speaking one’s true mind, yet doing so hiding behind a screen and sometimes even a fake name.
My fear is having my own children communicating with me via a blog.

You make me reflect, to the point of writing this reply. So I guess we should both be content as the blog has obviously achieved its goal…
But I dont know if I should be happy or sad about it. After all, I could have also called you!

With respect to the fake name, this was to protect. Not myself, but somebody else. I really would like to know on what content you agree or reject. Contact me.

In response to the strong point you make about the communication channel, I believe we have to let the future emerge (We don’t have a choice anyway ;-). We have to be in this world and evolve and adapt to survive. Or we can disconnect and go to a monastery, which is a valid choice of course.

My and your children consider e-mail as really very old-fashioned. And blogs are really for guys with grey hairs. So here we are. It’s 2010.

Whether you like it or not, your and my children will communicate using Twitter, Facebook, Netlog, Foursquare etc or whatever will be applicable the next years. Like we used to send SMS’s, our kids will Tweet or whatever the channel will be.

One thing is inevitable. The on-line communication channels move into real-time. Nova Spivack coined this “The Stream”. See my post on World Wide Web.

I have btw another blog post in preparation about about a very related subject: privacy.

We seem to have passed the tipping point where the default is NOT privacy, but Public. It will then be up to you to indicate what about yourself you want to keep private. I struggle with that too. It has a lot with digital identity. If you’re interested in digital identity, i can really recommend the blog of Kim Cameron: www.identityblog.com

I encourage anyone to get into discussion with me on the CONTENT of this blog. Via the comment link, via phone, mail, face-to-face.

When i started this blog, i had some blog-shyness. That over now. I feel more comfortable with this channel now.

Probably 10 years later than the early adopters, but who cares !